1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to membership of devices in social networks, and more particularly to security of devices in a social network.
2. Description of Related Art
The popularity and growth of social network sites and services has increased dramatically over the last few years. Existing social network sites include FACEBOOK, GOOGLE+, TWITTER, MYSPACE, YOUTUBE, LINKEDIN, FLICKER, JAIKU, MYUBO, BEBO and the like. Such social networking sites are typically organized around user profiles and/or collections of content accessible by members of the network. Membership in such social networks is comprised of individuals, or groupings of individuals, who are generally represented by profile pages and permitted to interact as determined by the social networking service.
In many popular social networks, especially profile-focused social networks, activity centers on web pages or social spaces that enable members to communicate and share activities, interests, opinions, status updates, audio/video content, etc. across networks of contacts. Social networking services might also allow members to track certain activities of other members of the social network, collaborate, locate and connect with former acquaintances and colleagues, and establish new connections with other members.
Individual members typically connect to social networking services through existing web-based platforms via a computing device and/or mobile smartphone. Members often share a common bond, social status, or geographic or cultural connection with their respective contacts. Smartphone and games-based mobile social networking services are examples of rapidly developing areas.
As the use of social networks continues to proliferate, the limitations of current security measures used in the context of social networks become more of a concern. In many cases, individuals belonging to social networks expect, sometimes mistakenly, believe that reasonably strong security measures have been implemented to prevent unauthorized access to the social network, and that social network members are all trustworthy. As new threats to security of social networks continue to emerge, it becomes apparent that current social network security measures are less than perfect.